Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-06-24
" His worth II all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth yrnuld idvk lli


wickedness. Out with Stephen through the
gates Of the city, Dewn with him over the
frecpiee. Let every man come up and drop
. stone upon his head. But these men did
not so much kill Stephen as they killed them
selves. Every stone rebonnded upon them.
While these murderers are transfxed by the
scorn of all good men, Stephen lives in the
admiration of all Christendom Stephen
stoned; but Stephen alive, So all good men
must be pelted. All who viii live godly in
Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. 1t IS no
eulogy Of man to say that everybody likes
him. Show me any one who is doing
all his duty to State or Church, and l viii
show you scores OF men who utterly abhor
him
If all men speak well of you, it is because
you are either a laggard or a dolt If
steamer makes rapid progress through the
waves, the water will boil and foam all
around 1t. Brave soldiers of Jesus Christ
will hear the carbines click When | see a
man with voice, and money, and influence
oil on the right side, and some caricature
him, and some sneer at him, and some de-
nounce him, and men who pretend to be act
uated by right motives conspire to cripple
him, to cast him out, TO destroy him. say:
"Stephen stonedn When | ace q man in
some great moral or religious reform battling
against grog-shops, exposing wickedness in
high places, by active means trying to purify
tate, and l find that the newspapers
anatnemat1ze him, and men, even good men.
oppose him, and deuounco him, because.
though he does good, be does not do it in
their way, l say: "Stephen stoned.n The
world, with infinite spite, took after John
Frederick Obcrlin, and Robert Moffat, and
Pa'l, and Stephen OF the text. But you
notice, my friends, that while they assaulted
him they did not succeed really in killing
him. You may assault good man, but you
cannot kill him. On the day of his death,
Stephen spoke before few people in the San
hedrlm; this Sabbath morning he addresses
all Christendom. Paul the Apostle stood
on Mars Hill addressing n handful of
philosophers who knew not so much about
science as modern school girl To-day he
talks to all the millions of Christendom
about the wonders of justification and the
glories Of resurrection. John Wesley was
howled down by the mob to whom he preached
and they threw bricks at him. and they de-
nounced him, and they jostled lin and they
spat upon him, and yet to-day, in all lands, he
Is admitted to be the great father of Method
ism. Booths bullet vacated the Presidential
chair; but from that spot Of coagulated blood
on the floor in the Eox of Ford s Theatre,
there sprang up the new life of a nation.
Stephen stoned; but Stephen alive.
Pass on now, and see Stephen in bis dying
prayer. His first thought was not how the
of his body.' His first thought was about his
spirit Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" The
murderer standing on the trap-door, the black
cap being drawn over his head before the ex-
ecution, may grimace about the future; but
you and | have no shame in confessing some
anxiety about where we are going to come out
You are not all body. THERE'S within you SOUL
see it CLEAN from your eyes to-day, an
see it irf'adiating your countenance. Some
times | am abashed before an audience,
! not because | come under your physical eye
sight, but because l realize the truth that
stand before so many immortal spirits. The
probability is that your body will at last lind
sepultrue in some of the cemeteries that
surround this city. There is no doubt but
that your obsequies will be decent and re-
spectful, and you will be able to pillow your
head under the maple, or the Norway spruce,
or the cypress, or the blossoming fir; but this
spirit about which Stephen prayed, what di-
rection will that takeS What guide will es-
cort itf What gate will open to receive
itf What cloud will be cleft for Its pathway
After 1t has got beyond the light OF our sun,
will there be torches lighted for the rest of
of the way2 Will the soul have to travel
through long deserts before it reaches the
good landg If we should lose our pathway
will there be a castle at whose gate we may
! ask the way to the city9 o, this mysterious
spirit within usl 1t has two wings, but it Is
it; but let the door of this cage open the least
and that soul is off. Eagles wing could not
catch it. When the soul leaves the body 1t
takes fifty worlds at bound And have
no anxiety about it? Have you no anxiety
about it3 do not care what you do with my
body when my soul is gone, or whether yon
believe in cremation or inhumation. l
shall sleep just as well in wrapping
of sackcloth as in satin lined
with eagles down. But my soul--before |
leave this house this morning will find out
where it is going to land. Thank God for the
1ntimation of my text, that wnen we die
Jesus takes us. That answers all questions
| for me. What though there were massive
bars between here and the city Of light, Jesus
could remove them. What though there were
| great Saharas of darkness, Jesus could
| illume them. What though l get weary
on the way, Christ could lift me on His
omnipotent shoulder. What though there
were chasms to cross. His hand could
transport me. Then let Stephens prayer be
my dying litany: lord Jesus receive my
spirit Itmay be in that hour we shall be
! too feeble to say long prayer. 1t may be in
| that hour we will not be able to say the
Lords Prayer for it has seven petitions.
Perhaps we may be too feeble even to say the
infant prayer our mothers taught us, which
John Quincy Adams, seventy years of age,
said every night when he put his head upon
his pillow:
'Now lay me down to sleep,
Ipray the Lord my soul to Keep"
| We may be too feeble to employ either of
these familiar forms; but this prayer of Ste
phen is so short is so concise, is so earnest, il
SO comprehensive, we surely will be able to
say that Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
0, if that prayer is answered, how sweet it
will be to die! This world Is clever enough
to u.s. Perhaps it has treated us great deal
better than we deserved to be treated;
but if on the dying pillow there shall
| break the light of that better world, we shall
have no more regret about leaving a small,
dark, damp house for one large, beautiful,
and capacious. That dying minister in Phil
! adelphia, some years ago, beautifully depicted
1 it when, in the last moment, he threw up his
hands and cried out: ~ move into the Gghtm
Pass on now and will show one more
| picture, and that is Stephen asleep With a
| pathos and simplicity peculiar to the Script
ures the text says of Stephen: "He fell
asleep "O," you say, "what place that
was to sleepl A hard rock under him, stones
falling down upon him, the blood streaming,
the mob bowling What a place it was 20
sleepl" And yet my text takes that symbol
of slurnber to describe his departure, 80
sweet was it, so contented was it, so
peaceful was it. Stephen had lived
very laborious life. HIS chief work
had been to care fsr the poor. How many
loaves of bread he distributed, how many
bare feet he had sandaled, how many cots OF
sickness and distress he blessed with minis
tries Of kindness and love, do not know;
but from the way he lived, and the way he
preached, and the way he died, know he
was a laborious Christian. But that
is all over now. Hs has pressed
the cup to the last fainting lip, He
has taken the last insult from his enemies.
The last stone to whose crushing weight he is
| Suscentihle has bann hurled StpDhen is dead